Table 4.

Exemplary Los Angeles park director feedback on marketing training (n=33), by theme (2010–2012)

THEME	EXEMPLARY PARTICIPANT COMMENTS
Interacting with other PDs	“What helped most was listening to other park directors about how they advertise their programs and see what groups to market to. I got direction on where to start.” “I particularly liked hearing what other directors were doing and how it was working.”
Getting ideas from marketing professional	“I got a lot out of it. Every time I was assigned [to attend], I went. I got more methods on how to interact with staff to make things more efficient and productive and get the message out into the community. Brainstorming was good because different stuff works in different communities.” “I liked [the trainer’s] enthusiasm. I also liked her ability to get us to think about ways to reach out and find out what the community wants and then how to implement those ideas. I did a drum circle and marimba band concert and put out questionnaires and mailing list sign-ups and got new people to sign up each time.”
Feeling encouraged as recreation professional	“The energy that [the trainer] brought made the directors feel better about their jobs. I found the sessions empowering. It is important to hear that it is ok to step outside the box and that trial and error is ok, that I don’t have to succeed in everything tried at the park.” “It was sanity wise to get to work with others and exchange ideas with people like myself. We are recreation! Many are older and don’t see the importance of this [marketing].”
Already implementing marketing strategies	“I come from a PR/marketing background, so I was familiar with the topics covered. But these activities confirmed what we were already doing.”
Marketing ideas were not practical	“The ideas were not the most practical. [The trainer] suggested that we do some searching for funding matches and grant writing, potentially good ideas but I just don’t have the experience or time and got no guidance on how to do it. I found it frustrating that it was just ideas that were discussed rather than practical solutions.”